Jess Davis

Small blessings.

The Axis of Illicit Finance: Iran’s Crypto Strategy Explained Part 1 of a new 8-part series on Iran's use of cryptocurrency for sanctions evasion

Iran's ability to evade sanctions helped sustain the regime, fund Iran's proxies, and facilitate trade. Part of the reason even the toughest sanctions were ineffective -- Iran developed a hybrid threat financing system using crypto. Read here:

newsletter.insightthreatintel.com/p/the-axis-o...

a close up of a man 's face with a beard and long hair ALT: a close up of a man 's face with a beard and long hair

Good morning Ottawa and welcome to our fifth month of winter.

Carney rules out Canadian military participation in Middle East conflict Prime Minister Mark Carney said while he has had discussions with U.S. President Donald Trump about the possibility of strikes in Iran over “recent weeks,” he does not expect Canada to take a military...

As expected, Canada not joining in the war against Iran: “We have not been party to the military build up to this, or the military planning of this. So, it is not envisioned that we would be part of it moving forward”

www.ctvnews.ca/world/articl...

I think a) you're right, this was a bit of a speech for the IR nerds in the room, and b) people really heard what they wanted from the speech (as we all do most of the time). So agree that this is dissapointing lots of folks.

Carney's speech was about realpolitik, identifying options and opportunities when they exist, and understanding the world as it is, not invoking the dead idea of a rules-based order (and international law). This statement is Davos in action.

I don't think it's realistic to have expected Canada not to say anything. Journalists (and Canadians) expect some sort of statement from the PM.

Xi Has Made China’s Currency Ambition Explicit What changes when China’s leader finally states a reserve currency ambition explicitly? Xi Jinping has now done so, calling for the renminbi to attain

"Xi Jinping...calling for the renminbi to attain global reserve currency status"

warontherocks.com/2026/02/xi-h...

Two things: a) Vocally opposing the US's action gets Canada nothing, so this tepid support makes sense.

b) The real support is in action, not words. I doubt we'll see any assets, resources, or tools deployed to support the US-Iran war.

Statement by Prime Minister Carney and Minister Anand on the situation in the Middle East Canada’s position remains clear: the Islamic Republic of Iran is the principal source of instability and terror throughout the Middle East, has one of the world’s worst human rights records, and must ...

"Canada supports the United States acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its regime from further threatening international peace and security."

www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/stat...

I've been studying terrorism, insurgency, and conflict for >20 years, and I'm very concerned. Regime change is big talk that will force the Iranian regime to do ~everything~ it can to stay in power, and that means using all assets, including asymmetric ones.

(also: Epic Fury? JFC)

As an MIT political science PhD I should be able to say something insightful about the damage this will do to long-term American military and strategic capacity, but the Canadian in me is left with: lol

To spy, or not to spy: Canadian government consideration of a foreign intelligence agency, 1945–2007 Unlike most of its key allies, the Canadian government has not created a foreign intelligence agency to spy abroad using human sources. Newly-available archival records for the first time furnish i...

To spy, or not to spy: Canadian government consideration of a foreign intelligence agency, 1945–2007
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

hahahaha oh man.

the other day I was invited to review a book that, in the short excerpt that I was sent, implied motive and financial self-interest to discredit my research conclusions. It was a polite decline.

Thanks to @rachelgilmore.bsky.social for getting me to channel my rage into semi-coherent words.

The Cat and the Stock-Footage CEO: How a Digital Trail Helped Unmask an Iranian Money Machine A woman named Elizabeth Newman supposedly runs two U.K.-registered crypto exchanges. But she appears to be a corporate fiction used as a front for a convicted embezzler whom the United States has accu...

"By allowing [the fictional person] Newman to front these entities, the U.K. provided a veneer of Western legitimacy to a crypto network alleged to have helped bypass global financial blockades."

www.occrp.org/en/investiga...

Gotta love mornings when you wake up to a senior scholar misrepresenting your work. At least it's so obviously wrong as to be kinda funny.

Basically: these are marginal (not transformative) improvements in efficiency.

Curious about how others are using AI in deep research contexts.

c) reframing ideas & written work for grants (outcomes of this yet TBD)

I haven't had success yet with anything else like data transformation / cleaning, actual research, etc. The more complex the task, the more errors.

Thinking about AI in deep research today. My actual uses are limited :
a) constructing search strings for library & news indices

b) writing intros and conclusions based on specific ideas that I've generated

📖💸 Looking to understand the world of financial intelligence and identify new sources and methods for integrating this important intelligence discipline into your analysis? Check out our FININT Sources course!

insightthreatintelligence.thinkific.com/courses/FINI...

Carney pledges $2B for Ukraine, sanctions for Russian 'shadow fleet' on 4th anniversary of war | CBC News Canada is donating an additional $2 billion of military equipment, including more than 400 armoured vehicles, to Ukraine as the embattled Eastern European country's war with Russia rolls into its fift...

Canadian journalists who report on our sanctions (against Russia, Iran, others) are increasingly complicit in the government's whitewashing of our very poor enforcement capability.

Ask the question: how will these be enforced?

www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

Indian government no longer targeting Canadians, senior official says on eve of PM’s visit - National | Globalnews.ca The comments were the first to suggest India had halted the clandestine operation that Canada has linked to a murder and other crimes.

This seems...unlikely, especially in light of reporting a few days ago that another Sikh activist had been warned of a credible threat to life.

Either the government is naively believing India, or it is misleading Canadians with this statement.

globalnews.ca/news/1170676...

Headlines a day apart lol

🚨🗞ICYMI: Insight Monitor's analysis of Iran-Houthis financing through cryptocurrency. Free to read:

newsletter.insightthreatintel.com/p/from-tehra...

From Tehran to Sana’a: Cryptocurrency and Sanctions Evasion in the Axis of Illicit Finance Ansarallah (the Houthis) and cryptocurrency-enabled terrorist financing

🚨🗞Our next article in our Iran-cryptocurrency and terrorist financing series is out! This one focuses on Iran's financing of the Houthis via crypto. A critical read for understanding Iran's hybrid threat finance network:

open.substack.com/pub/insighti...

From Tehran to Sana’a: Cryptocurrency and Sanctions Evasion in the Axis of Illicit Finance Ansarallah (the Houthis) and cryptocurrency-enabled terrorist financing

🚨🗞Our next article in our Iran-cryptocurrency and terrorist financing series is out! This one focuses on Iran's financing of the Houthis via crypto. A critical read for understanding Iran's hybrid threat finance network:

open.substack.com/pub/insighti...

AI minister to meet with ChatGPT officials about flagged online activity by Tumbler Ridge shooter Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon has summoned OpenAI officials to Ottawa to take them to task over "disturbing" reports that the AI giant knew about concerning content tied to the

OpenAI summoned to Ottawa: "Solomon said it was "deeply disturbing" that OpenAI deemed the content unworthy of law enforcement involvement."

www.thestar.com/politics/fed...

The Axis of Illicit Finance: Iran’s Crypto Strategy Explained Part 1 of a new 8-part series on Iran's use of cryptocurrency for sanctions evasion

For more on this, have a read of our first article in our series on Iran & Crypto. Second article drops later today!

newsletter.insightthreatintel.com/p/the-axis-o...

Binance Employees Find $1.7 Billion in Crypto Was Sent to Iranian Entities

Serious but not surprising allegations. Crypto is a backbone of Iranian sanctions evasion: "$1.2 billion in crypto had flowed from Blessed Trust’s Binance account to Iranian-linked entities..wallets controlled by Iran’s [IRGC]"

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/t...